Tate Praises Preemption

New FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate earlier this week praised a Tennessee NBC affiliate for preempting a network show and instead offering the time to local public service organizations.

She did not specify the station, which was in her home state of Tennessee, because she refused to answer reporters' questions after the speech to a National Association of Broadcasters legislative fly-in.

She also did not give a time frame for the preemption, but it could have been &em>The Book of Daniel&/em>, which a number of broadcasters opted not to run for content reasons before NBC opted not to continue it for reasons that probably included really low ratings.

At least one broadcaster attending the Tate speech remarked on the difference between Tate's open and welcoming speech, which professed her willingness to discuss issues, and her brush-off of reporters.

To be fair, she did promise to talk at a scheduled reporters breakfast sometime in the future, but that was of little help to those seeking immediate clarification and elaboration on her speech.